I live in black bear country. People who think black bear are not aggressive are very lucky they never met the wrong animal. I will admit the majority of bear you encounter will run off when they spot you. I have had a few close encounters myself, and they did run off. The trouble is there is always a chance this might not happen. Remember, a bear is a wild animal and there is no telling how that animal will react to you, especially if the animal is wounded.

I have no doubt that a muzzleloader will take a bear. I have hunted bear with muzzleloader although I was never lucky enough to find one that I wanted to test the theory of whether the muzzleloader would dispatch the animal. I will admit that when I hunted bear with the muzzleloader I also had a Ruger Redhawk .44 magnum with me.

I think the big thing with bear or any animal for that matter is shot placement. You have to make that first (and in most cases your only) count. It must be placed where it will do the deed as fast as possible.